Transmogrification is coming to World of Warcraft and we’ve got the full scoop on what Transmogrification is and why so many people are talking about it.

Transmogrification is the upcoming feature that will allow you to take one piece of gear and give it the appearance of another piece of gear. That way you can retain the look of any item that you currently own without sacrificing those valuable stats. Fashionistas of WoW lookout, because we’re going to have some awesome looking characters running around the capital cities soon.

Transmogrification Guide

The process is simple. The Ethereals are making a return from Outland to help Transmogrify your armor, or in layman’s terms, let you pick what your gear will look like. You’re probably pondering, “You’re kidding!” but trust me, it’s coming to a World of Warcraft near you. Pretty soon too, because Transmogrification will be part of patch 4.3.

Anyway, you’ll take your original piece of gear (with the stats that you want) and drag it into the interface followed by the pierce of gear that you want your original piece to look like. Then you’ll pay a modest fee and voila! The process is done.

What does Transmogrification cost (like, does it cost real life money or is it a premium feature)? Well, the simple answer to that is gold. As it stands the entire process will cost gold and probably not that much, so you’ll be able to change your gear as often as you like.

The process will be rather simple.

There are a few rules. The items will have to have stats (so no grey items) and you can’t switch to something you can’t wear. You also can't switch between armor/weapon types (so you can’t have cloth looking like plate and vice-versa).

Transmogrification’s Impact on World of Warcraft

The thing with Transmogrification is that you’ll have level 85 characters running around in their full tier gear that looks like newbie gear, which ruins the ability to spot what a character is by its silhouette. You’ll only get an idea of what class they are (cloth/leather/mail/plate wearer) but not what level their gear is. This will make telling how well geared players are in PvP near impossible (unless the effects don’t carry over into the arenas/battlegrounds which is very likely).

That’s the only downside and it’s a pretty big one. However, there is a pretty good solution from avoiding falling for someone’s tricks and keeping yourself from having to inspect everyone to see if they’re a scrub or pro. That’s PlayerScore. You’ll be able to see a player’s GearScore in addition to if their gear is right for them. So you won’t have a Hunter in crappy gear that looks like newbie gear with Intellect gems getting into your raid.

Another issue is, obviously, the Player vs. Player aspect, but most good player’s judge by mana/health and not by looks. Turn on your nameplates and examine players by their stats, especially in the arena, and not so much by how someone looks. You’ll see your game improve by a ton.

One other issue is how will you store all of this gear? Well, Void Storage will be coming soon which will let you store a ton more gear

Popular Gear sets for Transmogrification and Gold Making Potential

Of course, you’re probably wondering if you can make money off of the future patch right now or if you should get started on farming some rare items that players will want when 4.3 hits. Of course!

Some of the best looking armor sets come out of Karazhan. There is a full black leather set that drops there that Rogues and Feral Druids will definitely want. The older tier sets are a big with veterans, especially the Judgment set for Paladins. Remember you get one chance per week, so you’ll want to start farming now.

A lot of green items also look great. A good example is the Sentinal Trousers which show off a good bit of legs or the Scarlet set that looks pretty cool and nostalgic. That’s where the gold will be. So saving any “good looking” pieces that you can drop and sell later will be a really good idea as players will obviously shop through the AH trying to find the best looking items to use with this new service. Big piece items like breastplates will sell better than say belts, simply because they’ll be easier for people to alt-click through to see how they look on their character.

Transmogrification FAQ

Will the item be destroyed?

As of right now, no, it won’t.

Doesn’t this break PvP?

There is a huge argument going on about the ability to disable it, the general idea is that it’ll be automatically disabled in PvP obviously and that’s what I’m sticking to, but who knows what Blizzard will do in the end.

How much is it?

We don’t know yet, but so far it’s not a premium service.

Can I use it to make my Hunter look like a Paladin?

No.

That's all we have on the Transmogrification system right now. We'll have more updates as more information comes in. In the mean time, what's your favorite armor set in the game? Why not share your thoughts in the comment section below.

To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our
World of Warcraft
Game Page.

About The Author

Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.